No Boys Allowed

                                                                            No Boys Allowed

                                                                                        1

Elena Collins met her best friend Natalia Marsden at the age of twelve and formed the N.B.A. club which stood for no boys allowed. They used a lean-to deep in the woods near Natalia's small, modest home and made a sign for it and painted in red letters N.B. A.  Since Natalia liked to be in charge she made the rules. Especially since the club was her idea. They would meet three times a week afterschool and all activities were kept a secret. What occured during the meetings would vary. Natalia often carried a deck of Tarot cards with her. So, hours would be spent asking the cards questions and having them interpreted.  Elena figured Natalia's mother, Krissoula, must be partly an influence on her since it was rumoured that her mother read Tarot cards and performed other forms of divination for money. People in town also said she did scandalous things for money. No one really knew what her mother's questionable form of employment really was. 

No friends were ever invited to these meetings. It was always Elena and Natalia. Elena wasn't as dedicated as Natalia at attending these meetings because at the age of twelve back then, it was easy for Elena to become distracted by things in town. At times, walking home from school, passing by the library lured her in for an hour or two to see if any new books had come in by her favorite authors or she would browse the shelves and there would be books that would capture her attention. Other times she would find herself stopping to watch a baseball game in progress where her brother Jake and his friends played. Any missed meetings would be considered a  " curse "  by Natalia. She'd call Elena everytime one was missed and force a promise out of her not to miss the next one. Looking back at that time in her childhood, she realized that's when Natalia's obsessive personality had always began to enforce her to follow rules adamantly and expect others to follow her example. Elena was just a twelve year old girl then. What did she really know ?

Elena's brother Jake had tried to warn her about Natalia. He said she should stop hanging out with her and bringing her over to the house because it was rumoured that her mother was a witch and could place a curse on anyone and could make sure she never had a boyfriend. She never took it seriously and paid no heed to what her brother said. Her friendship continued on with Natalia. During the many Tarot reading sessions, one day stood out differently than the other days. One day Elena asked Natalia if the cards would indicate when they would get married. As she shuffled the cards, spread the cards out and turned them over to interpret them, she nonchalantly said, " No marriage because of the N.B.A. club."  Elena tried to explain to her that it couldn't be forever because everyone grows up and someday gets married. Natalia just kept murmuring insistently, " N.B.A. " 

One day Elena finds a stray kitten and brings it home to take care of it and names it Spunky. She adores it and Natalia becomes secretly envious of the attention she was giving it and starts to think she is being replaced by the kitten. Elena starts bringing the kitten to their meetings till Natalia starts expressing her dislike for the cat and started doing Tarot readings concerning the cat and told her the cards indicated that her kitten would not be around much longer. Elena asks her for more detailed informaton but she just gives her a vague, mysterious anwser. Elena starts to feel uncomfortable and starts to head for home. Natalia tried her best to persuade her to stay but Elena has made up her mind to leave for home out of concern for her kitten, Spunky. She had grown tired of the Tarot card routine and was starting to feel like she was also starting to outgrow the N.B.A. club too. Even the sign thay had painted letters on was even starting to fade which seemed like a sign to move on from the N.B.A. club, eventually.